This is a list of long volatility option strategies, which profit when underlying price makes a big move to either side:
- Bear Call Ladder (also Short Call Ladder)
- Bull Put Ladder (also Short Put Ladder)
- Call Ratio Backspread
- Long Guts (also Guts)
- Long Straddle (also Straddle)
- Long Strangle (also Strangle)
- Put Ratio Backspread
- Reverse Iron Butterfly
- Reverse Iron Condor
- Short Call Butterfly
- Short Call Condor
- Short Put Butterfly
- Short Put Condor
- Strap
- Strip
The strategies in the above list generally have no directional preference – they should be traded when you expect higher volatility (bigger moves), but you are unsure whether the underlying will go up or down. This list does not include strategies with are technically also long volatility (long vega), but have significant bias to one or the other underlying price direction (such as a long call or long put).
See a list of bullish option strategies (profit when underlying goes up), bearish option strategies (profit when underlying goes down).
The opposite (often the actual inverse position) of long volatility strategies are non-directional strategies, which profit when market goes sideways and underlying price does not move much to either side (these strategies can also be called short volatility).